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Key events
22nd over: England 152–3 (Roy 87, Buttler 0) All eyes now on Jason Roy who has been stranded down the non-strikers end, if he goes now then South Africa are well and truly back in business. Jos Buttler scratches his guard and blocks out three dot balls. What would his old mucker Eoin Morgan have to say, eh?
WICKET! Harry Brook lbw b Magala 0 (England 152-3)
Gone! Brook is pinned on the pads by Migala and he has to go! It looked stone dead and Brook must have thought the same as he chooses to depart without a review. Fate well and truly tempted and Harry Brook departs with a duck on his ODI debut.
21st over: England 151–2 (Roy 87, Brook 0) Harry Brook, currently the crown prince of English batting, joins Jason Roy at the crease. Nortje has cranked up the pace and looks to have his dander up.
WICKET! Ben Duckett ct de Kock b Nortje 3 (England 151-2)
Nortje strikes! A loose flash outside off stump does for Duckett who looked a bit out of sorts on his brief return. South Africa go ‘Bang-Bang’ and now have two in the hutch.
WICKET! Dawid Malan c Bavuma b Magala 59 (England 146-1)
South Africa finally get a breakthrough, Malan tries to clatter a BIG ONE to the fence for a maximum but mis-times his booming drive and only finds Bavuma at mid-off. Ben Duckett is the new batter and he gets off the mark straight away with a squirt behind square. I doubt South Africa are back in this, but I then again I also like tempting fate, so…
20th over: England 147–01 (Roy 85, Duckett 1)
19th over: England 144–0 (Roy 78, Malan 47) Eighteen runs off the over. Dawid Malan scythes Shamsi away for back-to-back boundaries before Jason Roy thunders one over long on for SIX off a free hit!
18th over: England 126–0 (Roy 78, Malan 47) Sisanda Migala replaces the beleaguered Nortje and it’s a decent introduction from the medium-pacer, just three runs from the over.
This is a nice picture isn’t it?
17th over: England 123–0 (Roy 77, Malan 45) Shamsi can’t put a cork in it either and England are motoring towards this target. 13 runs in total off the spinner, two ticklish sweeps evade the keeper and bring Roy eight more runs. A well timed clip off his pads gets him two more and he moves to 77 off 56 balls.
Time for a drink.
16th over: England 110–0 (Roy 65, Malan 44) Nortje is getting some serious tap and now I feel really bad for comparing him to Lurch. His three overs have been pummelled for 32 runs – Jason Roy has taken a real liking to the pace he sends it down at. “The quicker they come…” and all that. England cruise past three figures.
15th over: England 95–0 (Roy 52, Malan 42) Time for some left-arm spin and Tabraiz Shamsi, he really does have a lovely action. A whiff of Paul Adams about it. Malan and Roy have a look at the wrist-spinner but still manage four from then over. Not enough fellas, my Friday-five-a-side dream is slipping out of reach, it’s almost as if England don’t care for my social-life/pathetic attempt at cardio-vascular exercise.
14th over: England 91–0 (Roy 50, Malan 40) Eleven runs off the over, Roy is boshing himself back into form here. He plays a stiff-armed lofted drive over mid-on and then swats a half-tracker from Lurchio Nortje through mid-wicket for another four to bring up his FIFTY.
13th over: England 80–0 (Roy 39, Malan 40) Just three off Markram who will still be licking his paws after his last.
Hello to John Starbuck, who doesn’t fancy SA’s chances:
“Jim, South Africa are on a hiding to nothing here. They didn’t top 300, which is the going rate these days, and every over England get through will add much-needed experience for them in what is a pretty short series. If they are going to win this, one or two bowlers have to come up with something pretty special, but who?”
I’m scratching my head at the minute, John.
12th over: England 77–0 (Roy 38, Malan 38) Anrich Nortje is summoned, the big lad does have something of the Lurch about him. Maybe that’s cruel. I mean it affectionately – like Jim Royle did to ‘Our Antneh’/Lurchio. Probably not one for the South African readers of the OBO that one, but I’ve typed it now. Six off the over including a lovely dink off his pads by Malan.
11th over: England 71–0 (Roy 37, Malan 33) We are going to see some spin. Aidan Markram is on for a twirl and Roy greets him with a step down the track and a bunt for SIX. Some shot that. Imperious. A genuine edge through the vacant slip region brings Malan four more and all in all it is fifteen off the over. Yikes.
10th over: England 56–0 (Roy 29, Malan 27) Rabada into his fifth over, Malan and Roy are happy to rotate the strike. Feels like a change is needed here for South Africa. Rabada and Parnell have the exact same figures at the ten over mark.
5-0-28-0 and 5-0-28-0
Spooky? Not really.
9th over: England 53-0 (Roy 26, Malan 27) The FIFTY partnership is notched thanks to a classy steer to the fence from Malan, he looked to have all the time in the world to glide the ball through backwards point.
8th over: England 48-0 (Roy 26, Malan 22) Roy is poking and prodding outside off stump and he shows his frustrations. Four dot balls weigh him down before he manages to get onto his toes and punch one through the covers. A bit feast or famine for him at the moment.
7th over: England 42-0 (Roy 22, Malan 21) Parnell sends down a miserly over that just sees a single nudge off it, the two quicks have found their spot now after those wayward early overs.
6th over: England 42-0 (Roy 22, Malan 20) Rabada tightens things up and keeps it to just two singles from the over.
Colum Fordham whangs an email in:
“It’s heart-warming to see Jofra Archer finally take a wicket for England after two years battling with injury. He’s clearly a bit rusty but there have been enough good balls, including the wicket-taking delivery, to suggest he will be a valuable asset regained, AND he got through ten overs. And what a sublimely juggled catch by Willey!”
It was great to see Archer back in an England shirt, he did get a bit of tap mind. That catch by Willey was so nonchalant, in real-time – I don’t mind telling you – it made me gasp.
5th over: England 40-0 (Roy 21, Malan 19) Parnell continues and Malan maaaarmalises him away through the covers for four. He’s excellent at that classic cover-drive. England all over South Africa like a cheap suit here.
4th over: England 35-0 (Roy 19, Malan 16) Another four clipped off the metatarsals, Roy ain’t missing out on those. Rabada tightens up after that loose first ball and just two singles follow.
Do get in touch if you are so inclined – I’m on email and that there Musk nonsense site Twitter.
3rd over: England 29-0 (Roy 14, Malan 15) The (oft-mentioned and I’m not helping) currently out of sorts Jason Roy is not going to let his partner upstage him – he whips Parnell away to the mid-wicket fence for two more fours and scuttles a quick single off the final ball to take nine runs from the third. It’s almost as if Buttler’s men know I’m hankering after a quick finish so I can make my Friday night five-a-side football fixture. There’s still hope with this run rate…
2nd over: England 20-0 (Roy 5, Malan 15) As expected, England have started to hunt down this target with relish. Kagiso Rabada’s first over is slapped away for 12 runs! Malan is more than happy to whip two full deliveries off his toes before following up with a crunching drive to plunder his third boundary of the over. England off to a flier at The Mangaung!
1st over: England 8-0 (Roy 5, Malan 3) Wayne Parnell starts with two dots to Jason Roy but the opener soon gets into his groove with a meaty punch through mid-on for England’s first boundary. IT WONT BE THEIR LAST. That I can almost guarantee. Malan then gets himself going with a neat flick off his pads for three.
Righto, down to brass tacks in Bloemfontein. Who’s your money on? Will England’s gun batting line-up (including ODI debutant Harry Brook) make mincemeat of this total? How tricky an ask is 299 runs in fifty overs these days? The custard-cream coloured pitch looked pretty flat to me in South Africa’s innings, I’d wager they are at least 30-40 runs short. Jason Roy and Dawid Malan stride purposefully out to the middle – let’s play.
… And here’s that Women’s U19s T20 World Cup semi-final win again, from a different angle:
Thanks Tim and hellOBO everyone. We’ll come to England’s chase in this game shortly but first things first let’s give some big props to England’s U19 women who have just pipped Australia in an absolute nail-gnawer to make the T20 World Cup Final!
Here’s that winning moment:
SA finish on 298
50th over: South Africa 298-7 (Magala 5, Rabada 2) Sam Curran does well again, allowing only seven runs off the final over to make 18 off the last three. He’s been England’s man of the match so far, taking three for 35 as well as the excellent catch that broke that menacing opening partnership. SA’s man of the match is Rassie van der Dussen, for his elegant hundred, although there’s a suspicion that he may have hit the accelerator ten overs too late.
At 75-0 after the PowerPlay, England would have settled for this – and for Jofra Archer coming through ten overs with, as far as we know, no setbacks bar an unfamiliar figure in the runs column (81). England are probably the favourites, given the flat pitch and their taste for the chase. But they will need to go at a run a ball and they’re an unsettled side at the moment, with a batting spearhead, Jason Roy, in no sort of form. It’s one of those situations where they could either cruise to victory or collapse in a heap. To see which, Jim Wallace will be here shortly. Thanks for your company, correspondence, and erudite references to Adam Smith.
Wicket! Miller c Willey b Curran 53 (SA 295-7)
No sooner has David Miller gone to fifty than he gets caught, quite superbly, by David Willey. It was a slower ball from Curran, bludgeoned to long-on by Miller, and somehow Willey flicked it up, stepped over the Toblerone, came back and caught it, all with the air of a person posting a letter.
49th over: South Africa 291-5 (Miller 49, Magala 4) Here comes Sisanda Magala, known as a death bowler, but appearing now as a death batter. A cut for four gets him off the mark and condemns Jofra Archer to his most expensive day in an ODI shirt. He finishes with 10-0-81-1, when 10-0-65-2 might have been a fairer reflection of his performance – but at least he managed ten overs.
Wicket! Parnell c Malan b Archer 2 (SA 287-6)
Joy at last for Jofra! His slower ball is too good for Wayne Parnell, who chips it straight to backward point.
48th over: South Africa 286-5 (Miller 48, Parnell 2) Another good over from Sam Curran, who concedes only six despite giving away a no-ball in the middle with a high full toss. He has two for 28 off eight overs.
Wicket! van der Dussen c Duckett b Curran 111 (SA 281-5)
At last! Curran bowls a cutter, jagging away outside off, and the movement is enough to stop van der Dussen middling his lofted drive. Ben Duckett does well to hang onto it, and not to collide with his neighbour in the deep. A messy end to a very measured innings.
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